Hard to believe it’s been almost a month since my last blog. Thanks to brother, Michael & sister-in-law, Janey I had some time to regroup in LA and visit with Erika.  Got my granny-fix with a two week stay in San Diego with Tim and the world’s most beautiful and smartest granddaughter, Raya.  Visited a childhood friend in San Bernardino and now I’m back on the road.

Started out by crossing the San Bernardino Mountains.  Although it was 57 degrees in Big Bear Lake that didn’t stop them from manufacturing some snow for the kids to go sledding.  The snow shortage is beginning early.  It's usually here by now in the mountains. Stopped for lunch at a restaurant and got a Reuben that lasted me for 3 meals.  Can’t imagine anyone downing it in one sitting.

Big Bear is quite a vacation town with clusters of homes built into the mountain-side and around the lake.  Came down the other side of the mountain and got to see what those ribbons of road in the desert I’ve seen from the plane are like from the ground.  I wondered where they went and found out one of them goes to Barstow.  What a difference in scenery on the western and eastern side of the mountains.  There were hills but they looked like mud-piles with boulders tucked in.

Got a gas price shock – it was $5.17 in Needles and $3.37 in AZ, just a few blocks away.  Luckily, Patience got thirsty in AZ.  Drove up thru Bullhead City, AZ and noticed a line-up of huge hotels and casinos along the river -- Of course! They’re in NV.  Heading up 93 to Hoover Dam and stopped off at an information overlook.  Apparently, there’s a huge bighorn sheep population that migrates regularly from one side of the 4 lane highway to the other sooo, the considerate folks at the highway dept. have built a couple of overpasses for them.

Was planning to spend Thanksgiving in the Grand Canyon but saw that all the hotels were sold out for the holiday.  Decided that even if I could find a room, I’d be in the midst of huge crowds.  Nice to have the flexibility to change my mind so decided to visit Hoover Dam, Lake Mead, Zion and Bryce Canyon.  Grand Canyon could wait until the following week.

Spent some time at Hoover Dam – pictures don’t do it justice.  It’s enormous!  Had to go thru a checkpoint where they inspected Patience then got to drive over it and see it from a variety of vantage points. Cost me a dollar but sprung to have my fortune read by Pappy and am confident enough in his predictions to continue on this trip.  

From Hoover I drove thru Lake Mead National Recreation area. It’s amazing to see this huge lake in the middle of the desert – bright, crystal blue water against the beige landscape.

Landed in a Logansdale UT for a non-traditional Thanksgiving dinner.  Shared my hummus and rye-crisp in a park with two fellows who were in the area to hang –glide (that’s the cliff-jumping kind).  One was a bit younger than me and the other a couple of years older. In other words, old enough to know better. The younger one was from Alaska so I got to reminisce about my July trip.

Most of my traveling days have been spent in the same state so this bouncing around from CA to AZ to NV and then UT really confused the clock on my iPhone.  What time is it, anyway?  Also seeing some unusual roadside advertising –“Born to be Wild” Bail Bonds and I can get all my wisdom teeth (if I had any) pulled for $899.  The colors are incredible – what began as a brown mountain looks like someone took a big paintbrush and painted a swatch of red.

Spent a day in Zion National Park.  So much different from the northern Utah parks.  You have the huge red rock cliffs shooting up from a canyon floor that has trees and evergreens and a river (responsible for lots of the formations).  Took the shuttle that lets you get off and on to hike some trails.  I stuck to the wussy ones…a lovely walk along the river and a couple of trails from the information center and a few feet up from the highway.  Some were outfitted in water-proof gear to follow the canyon river to the "Narrows". Came across a mama mule deer and her two toddlers, none of whom were worried about my presence. 

 The ride out of Zion was an adventure too– climbing out of the canyon while looking over an unguarded drop and going thru a mile long, unlighted tunnel.  The tunnel was very cool as they constructed 3 cut-outs on the cliff wall so it was like driving by a huge picture window.

The rock formations are beautifully compressed together – horizontal, vertical, diagonal, herringbone, swirls and arcs in a variety of earth-tone colors ranging from bright red-orange to beige.  Beautiful contrast with the dark green evergreens.

Next was Bryce Canyon – another different scene.  You drive along what you think to be a traditional evergreen forest and then wham; you come to the ledge of an overlook with a canyon sprawled before you.  Bryce is famous for the “hoodoos”.  They look like platoons of strangely uniformed red-rock soldiers- each wearing a helmet made of dolomite.  The pillars are sandstone and will eventually be eroded away, to be replaced by others.  The helmet remains.  Confined my exercise to scenic overlooks as the wussy trail was 370’ down and up.

Now it’s time for your geology lesson (as I understand it).  Millions of years ago, this 4 state Colorado Plateau got on a humungous elevator and was raised 10,000 feet.  Then the fireworks began – earthquakes, volcanos, rivers, and ferocious storms formed the canyons, including the Grand.  But it left mesas too, so the topography is a strange mixture of cavernous gorges, pine forests, cliffs, deserts and grasslands.  Lakes are either man-made with dams or caused by sink-holes where the earth collapses into underground caverns.

Spent 2 nights in Kanab UT and lucked out by being there for the Christmas parade.  Twelve colorfully lit floats came down Main St. then made a U-turn and went back.  Had a bit of an emotional heart tug when the fire engine approached and the little boy in front of me said, “Look Mom!  It’s Santa”.

Next stop is the big one – Grand.  Hope your Thanksgiving was wonderful.  Been spending lots of time thinking about my blessings and you’re on the list